The Abyss (I)

” Oh dark act, violation, murder! Abyss, give birth to the unredeemed. Who is our redeemer? Who our leader? Where are the ways through black wastes? God, do not abandon us! What are you summoning, God? Raise your hand up to the darkness above you, pray, despair, wring your hands, kneel, press your forehead into the dust, cry out, but do not name Him, do not look at Him”. (Carl Jung -”Red book”)

None of the mystic terms has gained such a bad reputation and was almost moved into a taboo area like the ”abyss” was, and I dare to say still is. Even if there are hundreds of articles on the subject, and psychoanalysis attached it with the trauma complex as a post traumatic stress disorder or dissociation there still are very few real clues on what IS the abyss. If we go back in Christian history then we see it as hell- that terrible place that is so much feared by the believers and the reason why Christianity managed to blackmail billions of innocents for thousands of years. Then in the XX century the eccentric and famous Aleister Crowley had several writings on what might be the Abyss, even if some of the terms were taken from another occultist(consultant of Queen Elisabeth I)-John Dee. Crowley describes the process of ”Crossing the Abyss” in his usual vague, filled with symbols and metaphors style as I truly doubt anyone could understand anything from it. I don’t know if he really knew what Abyss was(some even doubt he was a real Adept) or he only enjoyed to gain popularity from his idiosyncratic stylished books, but one thing is for sure- both Dee and Crowley were mentioning the demon Choronzon.

Crowley describes the Abyss as a void filled with terror (theme taken from the jewish Kabalists) in which the magickian must enter in order to rip apart his human self¬† and free his divine spark, process that will end with his transformation into the Master of the Temple. He names the ”Demon of the Abyss”-Choronzon (Satan in Dee’s writings), a character that will confront with the magickian during the crossing. Anyway I (personally) never understood how this demon relates with the destruction of the human self and even in his ”Vision and the Voice” things were, as I said before, vaguely described. It is true that he gave birth to an entire magick current (and I am not talking only about Thelema) and a huge amount of magicians- wannabes or not- quote his writings and his ideas, mentioning all the time the Abyss and Choronzon in the same manner as he did during his time. The fact that those ideas are more of a philosophical value rather than real is another story- we are used anyway with nice fairy tales and lullabies. Some even give specific rituals in order to transcend that state of ” transformation”, defeat the demon and become a great Magician (if only things were so simple). The one that gives better clues is the famous Carl Jung, but the reader must take one thing from one writing and another from another writing in order to solve the puzzle and even then, Jung talks from the psychoanalytical point of view that only tries to understand some of the ancient occult riddles. Anyway from his point of view,the Abyss could be a time of crisis that can happen gradually and is attached to a feeling of terror and follows a dissolution of the Ego and a reorganization of the entire personality. What they both-Crowley and Jung-talk is rather of constructing and artificial bridge over a deep lake, like we are non spiritual beings. From my point of view, any of us is a spiritual being and has the capacity of gaining something higher, except the fact that, that higher something is already in our possession. Society and mundane life made us forget¬† who we are, is true,and the only real initiator in that case is life itself not a ritual or a spell. It might be a catastrophic event that destroys the self but it as could be a gentle process of evolution.

What psychology always says and some occult paths partially admit is the fact that the ego will never cross on ”the other side” even if some will say they are brave and they will fight or others will even say that they will dissolve into the pit. The first stage is the ”psychotic.’Psychosis (from theAncient Greek psych√≠ “psyche”, for mind/soul, and -osis “-osis”, for abnormal condition or derangement) refers to an abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a “alternative or unusual conception of what is referred to as reality”. People suffering from psychosis are described as psychotic. Psychosis is given to the more severe forms of psychiatric disorder, during which hallucinations and delusions and impaired insight may occur.(Wikipedia)
The next stage¬† is also called suicidal, when the person is desperate and filled with strong emotions.
When both are ”defeated” then we could talk about a new self…

To be continued…

Article By Kirke

This entry was posted
on gioved√¨, dicembre 6th, 2012 at 00:00
and is filed under Esoterismo.
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